France's Gaël Monfils has won the 2025 ASB Classic men's singles and is now the oldest winner of an ATP tournament.
At 38, he breaks a record held by one of tennis' immortal players, Roger Federer.
This afternoon's 6-3 6-4 win over Belgian Zizou Bergs was expected, given the ranking disparity between the two, but still impressive as Monfils started on the ATP tour when Bergs was only five years old.
Although Monfils was down 0-30 in the first game, he went on an early rampage to take command early, breaking Bergs in the second game then punishing him in the next.
Monfils has been incredibly adept this week at dictating the pace of his matches, and this time he simply went to top gear straight away to gain a 3-0 advantage.
The veteran's experience was on show throughout as he didn't waste any energy chasing any wild points, content to close the set out.
There was a slight delay when a spectator suffered a medical event and had to be assisted from the Auckland venue, but it didn't disrupt the way the match was playing out.
The second set had an almost identical narrative to the first, Monfils breaking Bergs early and simply taking his points. Apart from a little jam where he found himself down 0-40 at 3-2 and then a tense back and forth on deuce in the last game, it was a straightforward route to an ultimately comfortable victory.
This is a great win for Monfils, who was at the brink of being eliminated in his first match against Spain's Pedro Martinez.
Monfils was down a set at down 4-1 in a tiebreak before rallying, he continued that form throughout his next matches and didn't drop another set on his way to the title.
It's the current world No 53's 13th ATP tournament win in a remarkable career stretching back to 2004.
He's showing no signs of slowing down either. While he said during the week he has no more specific career goals after representing France in last year's Paris Olympics, there was no mention at all of retirement.
"I always have a fighting spirit, so I feel people know that I'm a warrior on the court and I'm not [going to] give up that easy.
"So I'm very pleased with the way I get through because it wasn't easy."
It's a big win for the tournament also, given that Monfils was the last big name player in the draw, after second round carnage saw all four top seeds knocked out.
Tournament director Nico Lamperin doubles as Monfils' agent, so the likelihood of him returning to defend his crown next year should be high.
Both men move on to the Australian Open next week, with Monfils playing fellow Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round, while Bergs has drawn this week's quarterfinalist Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina.
Doubles final called off
The injury curse that has plagued this year's ASB Classic has struck again: the men's tennis doubles final has been called off.
The silver lining is that it's a win for New Zealander Michael Venus and new Croatian partner Nikola Mektic, though not the way they probably wanted.
One of their opponents, American veteran Rajeev Ram, has pulled out through injury. It is understood he broke the news to the Auckland tournament organisers on Saturday morning.
Ram, who was paired with Christian Harrison, suffered the injury in their semi-final win on Friday night.
Venus and Mektic won their semifinal 3-6, 6-1, 10-5 over Mexican Santiago Gonzalez and Australian Lucas Medler.
The walkover is Venus' second title in Auckland. He is also the last New Zealander to claim a trophy at the ASB Classic, after winning in 2016 with Mate Pavic.
The crowd would still get a full final's day of tennis though, with a hastily arranged doubles exhibition match to be played with Kiwi Isaac Becroft stepping in to partner Harrison against Venus and Mektic.
